The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has extended the preventive measure for the former commander of the “Kharkiv” Operational Tactical Group (OTG) Yuriy Halushkin. He will be held in custody until June 20.
This is reported by Suspilne from the courtroom.
The lawyer for the former commander of the “Kharkiv” OTG Dmytro Kruhovyi reported that the hearing began on April 21, lasted until 2 a.m. on April 22, and after a break resumed on the morning of April 22.
Halushkin was not personally present at the court hearing — his lawyer reported that on April 17, the general underwent surgery to remove metal structures he had as a result of a fractured collarbone. Since then, Halushkin has been in the intensive care unit.
"The doctors provided a written response, as far as I know from the investigator, that he is unable to participate either via video conference or in person in court," the lawyer said.
At the same time, the prosecutorʼs office said that the suspect did not want to go online. The lawyer denied this and said that his client did not have any means of communication.
By the judgeʼs decision, the court secretary went to the hospital to connect the former commander of the “Kharkiv” OTG to the online session. The lawyer says that Halushkin "barely spoke and did not understand what was happening.”
“Then Halushkin fainted, but the judge did not stop the hearing. It lasted until almost two in the morning. The judge declared a recess until 9 a.m. today and ordered Halushkin to be brought to the courtroom. As of this morning, he had not been brought. The hearing was held in a closed format, but a recess was declared again until 11:30 a.m. in order to determine Halushkin’s condition during this time and understand whether he could participate in the hearing,” said Dmytro Kruhovyi.
Halushkin is one of three senior military officials suspected of negligence in the defense of the Kharkiv region.
Halushkin himself noted that the fierce fighting along the entire front line and the losses — both in people and territory — were not because “the soldiers lacked courage or the commanders lacked professionalism”, but because the Russians were oblivious to their own losses. He said that he was ready to go to war as an ordinary soldier.
What preceded
On January 20, law enforcement officers detained three military personnel suspected of negligence in organizing the defense of the Kharkiv region in 2024. We are talking about:
- former commander of the "Kharkiv" Operational-Tactical Group, General Yuriy Halushkin;
- former commander of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, General Artur Horbenko;
- former commander of the 415th separate rifle battalion of the 23rd separate mechanized brigade, Colonel Ilya Lapin.
The court remanded Halushkin and Lapin in custody on January 21, and Artur Horbenko on January 22. Already on January 22, bail of 5 million hryvnia was posted for Halushkin, but he was detained again on the same day.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.